Embracing hope

friend, you can have hope—today, here and now, and for all time! But how am I so sure about this? Because hope is a choice.

Maybe that was hard to hear. Perhaps you wish that hope could be guaranteed, something you just know will happen 100% of the time…

Well, it can be! You can be sure that when you hope in God, you will not be disappointed. God gives us this promise in His Word: "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5, NKJV) 

Rather than us trying to accomplish our own plans in our own strength, God instead challenges us to trust in His strength and greater plan! That is what it means to hope. 

When we hope like this, we then grow in genuine faith, friend.  

Are you still following me? I know that what you're reading here may feel like the spin cycle of a washing machine at first: hope to trust, trust to faith…but let's consider for a moment what happens to laundry as it spins. The machine cleanses the clothes of dirt and prepares them for what they were made for!

Spiritually speaking, the dirt represents our doubts and fears. And while we're in this spiritual "hope-trust-faith spin cycle," God is cleansing and preparing us for what He created us to do! 

friend, I'd like to encourage you today: you are allowed to believe that what God encourages you to hope for will happen!

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1, NIV)

As you're reading this email, many things in your life may fit into the category of what you "do not see." Do any of the following seem "invisible" to you right now, friend? 

• God's desire and design to change lives through you.
• The reason He has allowed some of your own plans to fail.
• The form His much more significant plans for you will take. 
• His timing for allowing certain people, like your dream man or woman, to cross your path.
• His perfect season for giving you that child you're dreaming of.

And that is why choosing to hope is a very important decision! Remember that when God challenges you to hope, your hope will not be disappointed because He is God, and He does not lie (See Hebrews 6:18)!  

Embrace hope today, friend!

You are a miracle!